Boston University's Clayton Keller Is 2017 Tim Taylor National Rookie Of The Year

Boston University freshman forward
Clayton Keller (Swansea, Illinois) has been
named the recipient of the 2017 Tim Taylor
Award, bestowed annually upon the best
first-year player in NCAA Division I men's ice
hockey, the Hockey Commissioners' Association
announced today. The award is voted
on by the nation's assistant coaches and is
named for the former Yale Universitry and
U.S. Olympic Team head coach.

Keller, despite missing eight games
during the regular season, lead all Hockey
East rookies in several offensive categories,
including goals (21), assists (24), points
(45), goals per game (0.68), assists per
game (0.77), points per game (1.45), shorthanded
goals (4), shots on goal (138), and
shots on goal per game (4.45). He made his
NHL debut for the Arizona Coyotes this past
Monday night.

Keller's 21 goals, 0.68 goals per game, 1.45 points per game, four shorthanded
goals, 138 shots on goal and 4.45 shots per game also lead all first-year players in the
NCAA. In regular season Hockey East play, Keller finished sixth in total scoring with 27
points in just 18 games played, but still led all skaters in shots on goal per game, firing five
pucks on net per contest. Among his classmates in Hockey East, Keller led nearly every
offensive category with 12 goals, 15 assists, 27 points, 0.67 goals per game, 0.83 assists
per game, 1.50 points per game, two shorthanded goals, a plus-11 rating, and 90 shots
on goal.

He led his Terriers team in scoring while helping them earn a share of the Hockey
East regular season title and was named Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Month in each of
the last three months of the season. Keller was also honored as the HCA National Rookie
of the Month in January, as he was in the midst of a 15-game point streak, and finished
the year with at least one point in 28 of his 31 games played.

The runners-up for the 2017 National Rookie of the Year Award were Denver forward
Henrik Borgstrom and Harvard defenseman Adam Fox, both of whom led their teams into
the 2017 NCAA "Frozen Four" in Chicago.

Tim Taylor, for whom the award is named, spent 28 seasons at Yale and became the
school's winningest head coach as he collected 337 victories. His tenure spanned from
1976-2006, while taking two years on leave to coach the U.S. Men's Olympic Ice Hockey
Team as an assistant coach in 1984 and as the head coach in 1994. Taylor was captain
of the Harvard University men's ice hockey team before he graduated in 1963. He began
his coaching career at his alma mater, serving as an assistant coach on the Crimson staff
under Ralph "Cooney" Weiland and Bill Cleary before beginning his time with the Bulldogs
in New Haven, Connecticut.

The Hockey Commissioners Association sponsors this award which results from a
ballot containing each NCAA Division I ice hockey conference's Rookie of the Year.